Economic burden of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer: an assessment of healthcare resource utilization and medical costs
Summary
Aim: To quantify the economic burden of early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) among patients with and without adjuvant therapy. Methods: All-cause and NSCLC-related healthcare resource utilization and medical costs were assessed among patients with resected stage IB–IIIA NSCLC in the SEER–Medicare database (1 January 2011–31 December 2019), from NSCLC diagnosis to death, end of continuous enrollment, or end of data availability (whichever occurred first). Results: Patients receiving adjuvant therapy had the lowest mean NSCLC-related medical costs (adjuvant [n = 1776]: $3738; neoadjuvant [n = 56]: $5793; both [n = 47]: $4818; surgery alone [n = 3478]: $4892, per-person-per-month), driven by lower NSCLC-related hospitalization rates. Conclusion: Post-surgical management of early-stage NSCLC was associated with high economic burden. Adjuvant therapy was associated with numerically lower medical costs over surgical resection alone.
Plain language summary
What is the article about?
Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for ∼84% of cases of lung cancer, which is the third-most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in USA. A large proportion of patients with resected early-stage NSCLC experience recurrence following surgical resection, and treatment guidelines recommend adjuvant therapy to reduce the risk of recurrence. However, there have been few studies to date that quantified the healthcare resource utilization (HRU) and medical cost among patients with and without adjuvant therapy. To this end, the present study described HRU and medical costs in patients with stage IB–IIIA NSCLC in the SEER–Medicare database who underwent surgical resection, and examined the economic outcomes stratified by receipt of adjuvant therapy.
What were the results?
We found that patients receiving adjuvant therapy had the lowest mean NSCLC-related medical costs (adjuvant [n = 1776]: $3738; neoadjuvant [n = 56]: $5793; both [n = 47]: $4818; surgery alone [n = 3478]: $4892, per-person-per-month), driven by lower NSCLC-related hospitalization rates.
What do the results mean?
These results suggest that post-surgical management of early-stage NSCLC was associated with high economic burden. Adjuvant therapy was associated with lower medical costs over surgical resection alone.